


You Broke Up With David!?

by LonelyThursday



Series: Dating Tropes [1]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Jack Kelly, Dating Tropes, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Misunderstandings, Siblings, adopted family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 14:28:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20321266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyThursday/pseuds/LonelyThursday
Summary: Jack is bringing his girlfriend home to introduce her to his family, his family does NOT react the way he thought they would.Also known as: That One Time Your Family Thought You Were Dating Your Best FriendFirst part of my new Dating Trope series





	You Broke Up With David!?

**Author's Note:**

> First part of my Dating Trope series: Bringing home your girlfriend only to find out that your family thought you were dating your male best friend (yeah it's based off that tumblr post about that guy's family thinking that the brother was gay)  
The other stories will focus on the other Larkin kids: Race, Crutchie, Smalls, Romeo, and Elmer (not necessarily in that order)  
The tropes will be: Fake dating that turns into real feelings, fake dating that DOESN'T turn into real feelings, Real dating but everyone thinks it's fake, brings friend home but everyone thinks they're your date, and use to be best friends but started dating and your family didn't realize (not necessarily in that order)  
If you have other dating tropes then let me know, also give me your suggestions for ships

Jack was nervous. It’s only natural of course, being as this is his first time bringing a significant other home for dinner. He’s dated before, but none of his past relationships ever got to the point where they would have survived his partner meeting his family. Most of his relationships didn’t last much longer after they had met  _ Davey, _ there’s no way any of them would have been able to meet  _ Race _ or  _ Smalls _ and still wanted to be with Jack aftwards.

Actually, come to think of it, Katherine is the  _ only _ relationship he’s had that survived his partner meeting Davey. Do people not like Davey? Is that the problem? Even if that  _ is _ the problem, and Jack hopes it isn’t because Davey is the  _ best, _ Katherine had made it this far, and obviously Katherine’s special. Jack’s never liked  _ anyone _ as much as he likes Katherine.

Hence bringing her to meet his family.

Jack really hopes he isn’t going to regret this. He hopes Katherine’s still his girlfriend at the end of the night.

All too soon Jack is pulling up to his family’s house and shutting off the engine. He doesn’t feel ready.

“Jack,” Katherine must notice his nerves because as soon as the engine is shut off she reaches over and rests a hand on top of his on the steering wheel. “It’s going to be fine, Jack, I promise. Nothing your family could do could possibly scare me away.”

“What if they’re murderers?” Jack can’t help but ask, trying to use humor to ease his nerves.

“Are they?” Katherine raises an eyebrow.

“No.” Katherine smiles.

“Then we won’t be having a problem.” Jack just shakes his head; he knows he’s not expressing his feelings well enough.

“It’s just…” Jack takes a steadying breath before continuing. “I want them to like you, and I’ve never brought  _ anyone _ home before, so I don’t know how they’ll act and-”

Katherine cuts him off with a gentle kiss.

“It’s going to be alright, Jack.”

“I really like you, Ace, and I don’t want tonight to ruin things between us.” There, he said it, it’s all out there now.

“Tonight won’t ruin anything, I can be very charming when I want to be.”

“Yeah but they can’t.” Jack mutters under his breath, but Katherine seems to hear him anyway.

“I’m sure your family is lovely, Jack. David seems to think highly of them.”

“Mama, Crutchie, and Elmer can be ok, but Race, Smalls, and Romeo are absolute nightmares. The only reason Davey didn’t run away screaming the first time he came over is cuz he already met Race at school.”

“The sooner we get in there, the sooner you’ll see that everything is going to be fine.” Katherine kisses him one last time before pushing her door open. “C’mon, Jack! Nothing to do but face them!”

Jack sighs again before pushing his own door open. If he doesn’t follow her she’ll just go meet his family without him. God he thinks he might love her. 

Tonight better go well.

Jack catches up to her just before she reaches the front door. Normally, he would just let himself in, but since he’s introducing his family to Katherine, he should probably use  _ manners _ or something. Katherine rings the doorbell before he can decide how best to do this. That works.

It’s Elmer that answers the door,  _ thankfully. _ Elmer just turned nine and is the  _ sweetest _ kid, except for maybe Davey’s brother Les, and is the least likely to cause a fuss in the doorway about Jack bringing home a  _ girl. _

“Jack!” The youngest Larkin screams before launching himself into his brother’s arms. 

“Hey kiddo!” Jack hoists Elmer off the ground, the nine-year-old is getting a little too big for this, but Jack can still manage. “Where’s the others?”

“They’re in the kitchen! Race is making spaghetti!” Race makes the  _ best _ spaghetti, so Jack can understand his brother’s excitement. “Who’s she?”

Elmer eyes Katherine wearily, never a fan of new people.

“This is my girlfriend, Katherine. Katherine this is my youngest brother, Elmer.” Katherine smiles at the young boy and offers him her hand.

“Hello Elmer, it’s nice to meet you.” Elmer just stares at her hand before squirming out of Jack’s hold and running into the house.

“Don’t mind him,” Jack explains. “He’s not a fan of new people, but in like an hour you’ll be his favorite person ever.”

Jack leads Katherine through the house towards the kitchen. Judging from the noise level, everyone is in the kitchen, which is probably for the best, get this over with as quickly as possible.

“Hey everyone!” Jack calls right before they cross the threshold of the kitchen. Everyone  _ is _ in the kitchen like Elmer said. Race is in front of the stove, Medda is bustling around the cabinets to get out dishes and things, Smalls is setting the table in the dining room, which looks into the kitchen, Crutchie and Romeo are at the breakfast nook, probably working on Romeo’s homework, and Elmer has pulled himself onto a patch of empty countertop to watch everyone bustle about.

“Jack Kelly!” Medda exclaims, the way she does every time she sees Jack after a long while. “Get yourself over here and give me a hug! How have you been, kid?”

“I’ve been good, schools kicking my butt a little, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.” Jack tells her with more bravado then he’s really feeling, but his mama’s hugs always do wonders to calm him down.

“Well you’re a smart kid, you’ll get the hang of it.” It’s then that Medda notices the girl standing in the doorway. “And who’s your friend?”

“Oh!” Jack pulls away from his mom and returns to his girlfriend’s side. “Mama, this is Katherine, my girlfriend.”

For a moment, everyone is quiet, but it’s only for a moment.

“WHAT?!” Race shrieks as Smalls drops the stack of plates she had been carrying, Medda and Crutchie both look like they’re about to cry, and Romeo’s mouth drops open. Elmer continues to sit calmly on the counter, but he’s brought his hands up to cover his ears.

Jack is shocked. He’s not really sure  _ what _ he was expecting his family to do, but this definitely wasn’t it. Katherine, however, seems to be taking this all in stride.

“You broke up with David?” Medda asks, just seconds away from tears.

Wait.

“What?” That definitely throws Jack for a loop. Break up with Davey? He was never  _ dating _ Davey.

“Why did you breakup with Davey?” Smalls yells.

“I was never  _ dating _ Davey!” Jack can’t help but yell back, and yeah, maybe he shouldn’t be yelling, but this is all very confusing for him.

“What do you  _ mean _ you weren’t dating Davey! Then what was with all the… and the…?” Race makes weird meaningless gestures with his hands, as if waving his hands around will convey to Jack exactly what it is he and Davey do that has convinced his  _ entire _ family that he’s been dating his best friend.

“You  _ all _ thought me and Davey were dating?” Jack asks incredulously.

“YES!” Almost everyone shouts back to him, except Elmer, who’s still covering his ears.

Jack stands there, dumbstruck. His family - his  _ family _ \- thought he was dating  _ Davey. _ Did Davey’s family think that they were dating?

He turns to Katherine to see what she thinks of all this, only to find that she was grinning and looked to be barely containing laughter. His glance seems to be the thing that sends her over the edge because she starts laughing like this is the most hilarious thing to ever happen.

“Kath!”

“I’m-I’m sorry, but it’s-it’s just so-so funny.” Katherine tries to keep a straight face, but fails after two seconds.

“Well, if no one’s going to be on my side, then I’m going to go hangout with Davey and his boyfriend.” Jack says in mock-offence, dramatically turning towards the backdoor.

“No! No, Jack!” Katherine grabs his hand at the same time Race yells “Davey has a boyfriend?!”

“I’m sorry, Jack.” Katherine apologizes as she pulls Jack into a hug. “It’s just that you and David are very close, and I’m not surprised that your family thought that the two of you were dating.”

“I’m sorry too, baby,” Medda apologizes. “We shouldn’t have just assumed that you and David were dating.”

The kitchen falls silent again, no one quite sure how to move forward from this. Except Elmer, who breaks the silence in a way that only a child could.

“Is dinner ready yet?”

The question causes Race to spring into action to finish the pasta, Crutchie and Romeo turn back to Romeo’s homework, and Medda grabs a broom to help Smalls clean up the broken plates. Jack turns to Katherine, who probably doesn’t know but he needs to ask anyway.

“Does Davey’s family think me and Davey are dating?” Katherine’s only response is to laugh at him again.

“Yes!” Crutchie answers for her from across the room. “Les, at least thinks that you and Davey are dating.”

“Great,” Jack sighs. He should really call Davey later, make sure his best friend knows everyone thinks that they’re dating.

Katherine pulls him into a kiss to try to make him feel better, except Race yells “No PDA in the kitchen!”

Jack pouts. “Brothers.” He mutters to himself, but it makes Katherine smile.

The rest of the night goes smoothly, Race’s spaghetti is as delicious as ever, Romeo doesn’t hit on Katherine  _ once _ (well maybe once, but it wasn’t as suggestive as it usually is), Smalls doesn’t make any comments intended to test Katherine, Crutchie is his usual adorable and charming self, Medda dotes on Katherine endlessly, and Jack’s prediction about Katherine becoming Elmer’s favorite person comes true. Other than the whole Davey thing, the night goes better than Jack could have ever expected, and miraculously, at the end of it, Katherine still likes him.

At the end of the night, when Jack and Katherine are preparing to head back to campus, Medda makes sure to load them up with as much leftovers as she can. Jack holds the car door open for Katherine before rounding the car to the driver’s side. 

“Your family was lovely, Jack.” She tells him while he climbs in.

“For sure?” He knows that everything went well, but he still can’t help but think…

“For sure.” The two share a soft kiss, then Jack’s turning on the car.

“I think they liked you too, ya know, once they got over mine and Davey’s ‘breakup’.” Jack jokes, it’s been a few hours so he’s more comfortable joking about how apparently everyone thought he was dating his best friend.

Katherine laughs and the two continue to talk about how the night went for the rest of the ride back to Katherine’s dorm. At Katherine’s dorm, Jack walks her to the door and they share one final kiss goodnight before Katherine goes in. Jack gets back in his car and drives to the student parking garage, then he walks back to his dorm room that he shares with Davey’s boyfriend, Spot.

Spot is still awake when he enters. Not only is he still awake, but Davey is over too, which saves Jack one phone call. They’re not doing anything, just watching a movie on Spot’s laptop, so Jack doesn’t feel bad about turning the lights on while he puts the leftovers in their shared mini fridge and gets ready for bed.

“Hey Dave, hi Spot.” 

“Kelly.” Spot greets simply.

“Hi Jack,” Davey greets, pausing the movie. “How was dinner.”

“It was good, it was good… Hey! Did you know that my whole family thought that you and me were dating?”

“What!?” Davey looks startled.

“Oh yeah, so I introduce Kath as my girlfriend, ya know, and I swear Medda and Crutchie were gonna start crying, and I think Race was almost ready to punch me for ‘breaking up with you’.” Jack puts in the air quotes. Davey’s gone red, and Spot is laughing his head off.

“I can see that.” The Brooklyn boy mumbles to himself

“D-Does anyone else think- I mean- does  _ my _ family think we’re… you know.” Davey stutters out, he also hadn’t realized that people thought that they were dating.

“Crutchie said that Les thinks we’re dating, he didn’t know what the rest of your family thinks.” Jack tells him.

“Oh god.” Davey hides his face in his hands. Spot rubs a comforting hand along his back, but he’s still chuckling.

“Hey! At least you know ahead of time!” Jack complains. “I had to learn this the hard way!”

“You’re right, Jack. You’re right. Thank you for telling me, I’ll make sure my family knows that we’re not dating in the morning.” Davey lifts his head from his hands, face still red.

“Sure, sure. Oh! And mama wants to make sure that you know that you and Spot are always welcome to come to family dinners.”

“Tell her thank you for me.” Davey asks.

“‘Course. Night Davey, night Spot.” Jack turns the light back off and makes his way to his bed. Davey and Spot are illuminated by Spot’s laptop.

“G’night.” They both mumble. Jack turns to face the wall to block out the light.

Yeah, Davey’s his best friend, and he hopes that they’ll always be best friends, but he can’t imagine ever  _ dating _ him.

**Author's Note:**

> All of Jack's pervious dates met Davey and though 'well shit, they're in love' and ran away. Katherine and Spot don't mind their close friendship  
Jack's the oldest then Race, Crutchie, Smalls, Romeo, and Elmer's the youngest


End file.
